Rory McIlroy Confesses: Chasing Distance Messed Up His Swing

Rory McIlroy had a confession to make before he left The Players Championship after another poor performance and another missed cut.

After rounds of 79-75, it’s apparent that McIlroy does have issues with his swing and now it’s been revealed why by Rory himself.

“Probably the swing issues and where it all stems from, probably like October last year, doing a little bit of speed training, started getting sucked into that stuff, swing got flat, long, and too rotational,” McIlroy stated. “Obviously I added some speed and am hitting the ball longer, but what that did to my swing as a whole probably wasn’t a good thing, so I’m sort of fighting to get back out of that. That’s what I’m frustrated with.”

Length was already no issue for McIlroy but after seeing DeChambeau’s performance at the U.S. Open, it got his attention.

“After Winged Foot I had a few weeks before we went to the west coast and I started to try to hit the ball a bit harder, hit a lot of drivers, get a bit more speed, and I felt like that was sort of the infancy of where these swing problems have come from. So it’s just a matter of trying to get back out of it,” McIlroy added.  “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t anything to do with what Bryson did at the U.S. Open. I think a lot of people saw that and were like, whoa, if this is the way they’re going to set golf courses up in the future, it helps. It really helps.”

Now comes the long road back and he’ll take time off after playing the past four weeks.

“It’ll take a bit of time. Like with anything, the slightest change in your swing is going to feel uncomfortable for a while. It’s not like it’s that far away,” McIlroy said before leaving Ponte Vedra Beach.  “I’m looking forward to a break. It’s funny, I used to think four weeks in a row was nothing, and then I feel like I’m getting old because by the fourth week I’m like, a little achy, a couple things are hurting, so I’m looking forward to getting home.”

As for DeChambeau, when he learned about what Rory said, he was flattered.

“I appreciate it, first off,” Bryson said.  “I wasn’t trying to influence anybody. I was just trying to play my own game and hit it as far as I possibly could. And I knew there was going to be an effect.

“I knew that there would be some people that would try and some people it would potentially not work for them and some people it may help them,” DeChambeau said. “I do appreciate Rory’s comments, it’s kind of a sentiment almost and something that keeps me going every day.”

Antoine Rozner Wins Qatar Masters:

Antoine Rozner picked up his second European Tour victory Sunday at the Qatar Masters.

After shooting a magnificent 68 in high winds on day three, he went into the final 18 holes three behind the leaders at the Education City Golf Club.

The winds calmed down on Sunday and he made his move into the lead after a front nine 33.

Rozner was at seven-under heading to the 18th, tied with Guido Migliozzi, Darren Fichardt and Gaganjeet Bhullar, who were finished and waiting for a possible playoff.

Rozner was 60 feet from the hole and two putts would send him into the four-way playoff.  But he drained the double-breaker for a closing birdie, a five-under par 67 and the winning eight-under total.  It was his second win in the last six events and it came three months after his first career win at the Golf in Dubai Championship.

“Amazing feeling,” Rozner said. “Winning a golf tournament is the best feeling in the world so getting it done this way, with such a big putt on the last, I don’t know what to say but in my biggest dreams I wouldn’t have thought of anything like this. Crazy run today.  Winning a golf tournament is so rare – to win twice in just a few months is unreal. I’m just very happy with the way I got it done today in such a dramatic fashion, it’s amazing. I’m very happy.

“I was just trying to hit a good putt (at 18). I knew two putts would be very important, I tried to get a good speed first. I thought I had a good read on it, then 15 feet short I was like ‘oh, this is going to have a chance’. I kept looking at it and it went straight in the hole – the best putt of my career.”

Qatar Masters Scoreboard: